Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company Q1 FY2026 earnings call

• Carl Hess noted appreciation for Middle East colleagues and commitment to supporting them. • WTW delivered 3% organic growth in Q1 with adjusted operating margin of 22.3% and $3.72 of adjusted diluted earnings per share. • Clients sought counsel to manage cost and risk. • AI enabled solutions are gaining scale, e.g., Rewards AI in HWC serves over 2,500 client users. • In risk and broking, implementing AI-powered operating system. • Introduced NuFront's technology to enhance front end. • Rolling out digital global claims platform in claims. • Notable client engagements in HWC and risk and broking. • Innovation for efficiency with tools like Call Note Assist and DocLM. • Spike Lipkin discussed AI strategy and integration of New Front.

Health, Wealth, and Career: Organic revenue increased 3% in Q1. Health had 6% revenue growth, wealth 4%, career declined 3%, benefits delivery and outsourcing declined 1%. HWC's operating margin was 27.3%, up 60 basis points. Risk and Broking: First quarter revenue growth was 2% compared to 7% in Q1 last year. CRB delivered organic growth of 2% for the quarter. Insurance Consulting and Technology: Revenue up 5% driven by increased technology sales. R&B's operating margin was 22.6% in Q1, an improvement of 60 basis points on a reported basis.

• Remain confident in long-term outlook and ability to accelerate performance. • Expect mid-single-digit growth for HWC, narrowed full-year outlook for CRB organic growth to mid-single digits, low to mid-single-digit growth for ICT. • Continue to expect share repurchases of at least $1 billion, subject to market conditions. • Expect to expand free cash flow margin.

• Mixed external conditions in Q1 including high healthcare inflation, regulatory changes, corporate transactions, geopolitical risk, economic uncertainty, market volatility, rapid technological change. • Middle East conflict caused clients to postpone advisory projects and some clients to pause discretionary spending. • Competitive pricing environment in risk and broking.

Q: On R&B organic revenue slowdown and new business, expand on drivers and why confident in one-quarter slowdown.

A: R&B had 2% organic growth in Q1, softer growth due to strong prior year comparable and timing of new business. Pipeline conversion improved and returned to normalized growth in April.

Q: Follow-up on R&B margin, why expect margin improvement picking up.

A: Investments in technology provide platform for operating leverage and efficiency, AI and automation key drivers, examples like 90% reduction in endorsement processing time, launch of AI-powered operating system Neuron.

Q: On R&B growth and Middle East uncertainty, characterize impact.

A: Middle East has neutral impact with some project delays but offset by other activity, pricing a risk.

Q: On HWC outlook despite headwinds, what makes confident in mid-single-digit growth.

A: Health has 6% growth, wealth strong performance, career expected to improve, benefit from New Front and acquisitions.

Q: On AI tangible impacts, where to see first, milestones.

A: Near term workflow automation, medium term scaling new products and AI adoption, long term combining data and models.

Q: On R&B new business timing, size drag and confidence in mid-single-digit.

A: New business timing related, April shows normalized growth and confidence in mid-single digits.

Q: On carrier comments on broker commissions, response.

A: Brokerage prices reflect value, AI reduces effort but not value of relationships.

Q: On R&B Middle East exposure and share buyback capacity.

A: Middle East is small, share buyback guidance over $1 billion unchanged.